Rosh Hashana is one of my favorite holidays. It marks a new beginning and starts for a new year, which always falls around the start of a new school year. To celebrate the holiday and the start of the new school year my family always plans to go apple picking. There’s nothing better than fresh apples that can be used for baking and cooking. To kick things off here is one of my top recipes for a tart that will leave you wanting more: Apple Almond Frangipane Tart.

Best Parve Tart Base for Apple Almond Frangipane Tart:

Once I find a dough recipe I love, I use it with various recipes. This parve tart base is my go-to for any size tart and filling. All you need is:

Margarine
Sugar
Salt
All purpose flour
Egg yolk
Vanilla extract

The Tools You Will Need:

You can make this dough in either a kitchen mixer or food processor. Add the margarine, salt, and sugar and pulse to combine, or mix until light in color in the kitchen mixer. Next, add the flour, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Pulse until the dough comes together, or big crumbles. Remove from the food processor onto your workspace and work it into a ball of dough. If you made this with a kitchen mixer apply the same process. Wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. We just want to let it set for easy rolling and shaping.

Place the dough between two parchment papers to roll it out to a circular shape. Make sure it is bigger than your pan so the sides also get covered by the dough. If the dough is too sticky either let it cool more in the fridge or place the dough in the pan and work it to the edge with your hands.

Using a fork you are going to begin to poke holes in your dough in a zig-zag pattern. Once your dough has at least 5 rows of poked holes, you want to place it in your fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.

Remove the tart from the fridge and place parchment paper on top, place pie beads or dried beans on top of the parchment paper. This will ensure the dough won’t melt inside or rise. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the beans/beads and parchment paper and bake for another 6 minutes. Once ready let cool.

What is Frangipane?

If you ever wonder what Frangipane is, it’s an almond custard (a filling) often used in tarts. It resembles marzipan in taste but is less dense, which makes it perfect as a creamy filling. Frangipane might sound fancy but all you really need to make it is butter, or margarine for dairy-free, white sugar, almond flour, vanilla extract, almond extract, flour, and eggs.

For the filling, I also recommend using the food processor. Pulse the sugar and margarine together, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix until you reach a smooth mixture. Pour the mixer onto the baked tart dough (after it has cooled down).

frangipane filling for Rosh Hashana tart

For the apple topping, simply cut the apple in half. Next, cut thin strips so they are in a half-moon shape. See the below photo for inspiration. Place each sliced apple on the edge of the tart and work your way around and in.

*Side note: As you had the apples the filling will rise. Be sure to not fill until the top if ended up with more than needed. This recipe is for a 9-inch tart pan.

Bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool and dust with powdered sugar.

Visit my Rosh Hashana page for more great recipes!